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All things high school sports from Southeastern North Carolina

Welcome to the most boring high school football poll ever. There was barely any movement save at the tail end of the 4A and 2A polls, and more importantly, every single first-place vote went to one team in each class. Really? We’re that sure of who the best team in the state is at each level? Yeah. Turns out high school sportswriters are. Here are the votes, along with mine and explanations. ^Class 4-A= Record Votes Prev. Powell’s votes †… Read More »

This week’s AP high school football poll for North Carolina came out last night. They’re still letting me vote in the thing, so here’s the poll with my votes alongside. Judge them how you will, but I’ll explain the moves and decisions for each classification. ^Class 4-A= Record Votes Last Week Powell’s Votes † 1. Matthews Butler (12) (6-0) 120 1 1 † 2. New Bern (6-0) 102 3 3 † 3. Richmond County (6-0) 99 2 2 † 4.… Read More »

Here’s the weekly AP high school football poll. As always, I’ve included my votes in the interest of a) furthering discussion and b) being transparent. Media polls are weird, nebulous things, and high school sports in particular is so localized that it’s hard for many high school writers to keep up with things on the opposite end of the state. Luckily, I grew up all over the western part of the state (I have suppressed my hill-people country accent) so… Read More »

Here are my votes in this week’s AP high school football poll for North Carolina. As always, my votes are out to the side underneath the “P” and any extra thoughts and explanations are beneath each classification ranking in italics. By The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Associated Press state high school football poll for the week of September 18, first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points as voted upon by a statewide panel of prep sports… Read More »

Here is this week’s AP high school football poll for North Carolina. I have included my votes to the side underneath the letter P for Powell, which of course is me. I tried desperately to get all the numbers and columns to match up neatly, but wordpress is being finicky and will not permit it. What kind of blog doesn’t register the tab key? Do people not need to indent on the internet? Am I the only one who gets… Read More »

Here’s the final regular-season AP football poll with my votes alongside. Commentary and thoughts in italics beneath each class. Enjoy as we head into the playoffs. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Associated Press state high school football poll for the week of November 1, first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points as voted upon by a statewide panel of prep sports writers: Class 4-A My Votes 1. Charlotte Mallard Creek (12) (10-0) 129 1 1 2. Scotland County … Read More »

Here’s the most recent AP football poll, with my votes alongside. Beneath each poll are observations and comments from me. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Associated Press state high school football poll for the week of October 25, first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points as voted upon by a statewide panel of prep sports writers: Class 4-A My Votes 1. Charlotte Mallard Creek (11) (9-0) 119 1 1 2. Greensboro Page (1) (9-0) 101 2 2… Read More »

Here’s the AP Poll votes for this week. Full disclosure: I did not vote in this week’s poll. It fell through the shuffle of returning from a weekend in Greenville and my wonderful day off Monday (Thank you for forcing that upon me, Editor Dan. My house really needed cleaning.) But there’s still commentary on all four polls. Enjoy: Class 4-A 1. Charlotte Mallard Creek (12) (8-0) 129 1 2. Greensboro Page (1) (8-0) 112 2 3. Matthews… Read More »

As always, here is the weekly AP high school football poll. My votes in the poll are off to the side, with comments in italics. By The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Associated Press state high school football poll for the week of October 4, first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points as voted upon by a statewide panel of prep sports writers: Class 4-A … Read More »

Here goes again: Each week when I vote in the AP high school football poll, I’ll go ahead and publish my votes as well. Again, my picks are frequently up for dispute and you’re welcome to tear them apart. But, perks of the job mean I get to vote. By The Associated Press RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Associated Press state high school football poll for the week of September 13, first-place votes in parentheses, records and total points as… Read More »

The first Associated Press North Carolina high school football poll was released today, and I voted for the StarNews. I’ll put my picks beside the state poll and I’ll explain my reasoning each week. So at least the process will be a little bit more clear. I don’t expect to be right every week, so feel free to disagree with any pick, any time. Class 4A My Vote 1. Charlotte Mallard Creek (10) (2-0) 118 1 †… Read More »

About This Blog

Hey there, I’m Alex Rileyand I’m the high school sports writer for the StarNews in Wilmington.

Before coming to North Carolina, I was covering sports for the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne for two-plus years. Before that, I was in Ellis County, Texas covering sports for Waxahachie Newspapers Inc. Originally I’m from Blythewood, SC and I’m a 2008 grad of the University of South Carolina.

Follow me on Twitter at @StarNewsVarsity or email me at alex.riley@starnewsonline.com.